Apparatus for printing ornamental designs on cloth



April 15, 1.941. G. E. SENSENEY 2,238,479 APPARATUS FOR PRINTINGORNAMENTAL DESIGNS on CLOTH Filed April 11', 1959 INVENTOR GIG/P65 Z:JEMszm-Y ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 15, 1941 APPARATUS FOR PRINTINGORNADIENTAL DESIGNS ON CLOTH George E. Senseney, Ipswich, Mass-Application April 11, 1939, Serial No. 267,244

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for I printing various ornamentaldesigns or patterns on textile fabric, and by virtue of the methodemployed the designs may be repetitive or may be continuously changingin accordance with the desire of the operator. Furthermore, the operatorwhile preparing the design printed has an opportunity of inspecting itsappearance, as it develops and of varying its character until fullysatisfactory for final printing on the textile fabric.

In general the operation of my apparatus consists in the formation ofthe design in a thin film of color or printing ink carried on acontinuously traveling web of material in such a manner that the designmay be marked out in said film of color on said web either by handmanipulation with suitable tools, or by means of various mechanicallyoperated devices which serve to change or modify the surface of saidfilm into the character of the design wanted. When the desiredappearance of the design is obtained the like. Inking devices forapplying color to the surface of said endless apron 4 are shown at I2,I3, and I4, and are of the usual character. The color material forbeingi applied by said inking devices to the apron 4 may be the usualprinting Inks or colors used for printing upon textiles such as dyesolutions carried in gums. and starches or pigments in oils or-bronzepowders in a suitable by such modification of the color film, the web vcarrying the same is brought into rolling contact 1 with the surface ofthe fabric to be printed upon for offsetting the design on said fabric.

The accompanying drawing shows schematically a form of apparatusembodying my invention. Referring to the drawing, I indicates thecylinder or roll of the usual textile fabric printing machine, 2 is anunderlay'blanket of absorbent material carried in contact with saidcylinder, and

{is the fabric to be printed upon, which is also' carried around saidcylinder on top of the blanket 2. The purpose of the blanket 2 is toabsorb excess of color or printing ink which penetrates through thefabric 3 being printed upon as hereinafter described.

Mounted adjacent said cylinder I is an endless web carrier or apron 4running around the end rolls 5 and 6 and having its upper run travelingover a fiat supporting table or platen I. The roll- 5 of said apparatusserves as a pressure roll .and is preferably mounted so as to be movableagainst or away from contact with the cylinder I by any suitable meanssuch as is indicated diagrammatically by the link and lever arrangements8 and 9, the latter being pivoted at I0 and having a weight II tendingto push said roll 5 into pressure contact with the cylinder I Theendless apron 4 carried over rolls i and 6 may of itself be used forhaving the design fo ably of material having a smooth white andresilient surface such as oil cloth or rubber and ed thereon'and forthis purpose isprefer vehicle or lacquer'mediums, and is ofsuchthickness and consistency as will readily be applicable to thesurface of the apron 4 and remain thereon in a thin film subject to suchfixed modification thereof into the design desired for being offset ontothe fabric by the printing operation hereinafter described.

The color carrier 4 is preferably supported in its run over the platen Iin order that the surface of the film on said carrier may be suitablymanipulated to form the design thereon. This manipulation of the colorfilm may be accomplished by oneor more recirpocating brushes such asindicated at I5, by rolls with marking surfaces thereon such asindicated at I6 and II, or by one or more reciprocable combs asindicated at I8. in other words, a great variety of devices eithermanipulated by hand or mechanically may be employed to modify thesurface of the film on the carrier 4 as it is being carried over the paten I, and the design as so formed may be readily inspected as it isbeing made. until it is of the appearance desired for being printed uponthe fabric. I

It is to be understood that the roll 5 is held away from contact withthe cylinder I until the design on the web 4 is completed to thesatisfacremoving color from the apron after it has passed its printingcontact with cylinder I in order that said apron may have a cleansurface for the application of the ink at l2.

As an alternative to forming the design on the endless apron 4 directly,such as above described, I may also form the design on a web of paper 25which is carried along with the upper surface of 7 said apron 4 and thismethod of operation has several advantages over that previouslydescribed in that the paper web may be drawn continuously from a freshsupply on a let-off roll indicated at 20 and wound upon a waste roll 2|and therefore need not be cleaned as would be the case of the endlessapron 4. As shown the web of paper is drawn from the let-off roll 20over tension and guide rolls 22, 23 and 24, around roll 6 in contactwith the endless apron 4, along the top of the table 1 and over roll 5to the takeup or waste roll 2|. The color is applied to said web ofpaper as before described and the design is formed thereon in a similarmanner. A further advantage of using the paper web is that a largevariety of surfaces for carrying'the color film may be obtained by usingdifferent kinds of paper such as embossed paper, hard surface paper, andthe like. The character of the paper surface will contribute towardmodifying the design which will be printed upon the fabric. Thethickness of color on the carrier web will vary by reason of its designand of the character of its carrier surface and will therefore penetratethe fabric with varying intensity to give light and shade effects uponthe printed fabric which are very difficult to obtain by usual printingrolls.

In general the surface travel of the carrier web apron I or paper 25will be the same as the surface travel of the fabric on the cylinder Ibut suitable gearing connections may be provided to make the carrier webtravel faster or slower than the fabric for still further modifying thedesign. It will be understood that my apparatus for so printing thedesign may be combined with an ordinary fabric printing cylinder andthat said cylinder may have associated therewith a number of additionalprinting rolls of the usual character such as indicated at 28, 21, and28 which add their effect to the design printed by my special apparatus.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for printing designs upon textile fabric comprising incombination a supporting roll for the fabric to be printed upon, a flattable mounted adjacent said fabric supporting roll, a pressure rolladjacent said table and said fabric supporting roll, a color carrier incontinuous web form traveling over said table and pressure roll; meansto apply a film of color to the surface of said carrier, means to form adesign in said color film on said carrier by modifying the surface ofsaid film while the carrier is traveling over the table, and means tocause said pressure roll to press said carrier in running contactagainst the fabric on its supporting roll whereby the color design willbe offset from said carrier onto said fabric.

2. An apparatus for printing designs upon textile fabric comprising incombination a supporting roll for the fabric to be printed upon, a flattable mounted adjacent said fabric supporting roll, a pressure rolladjacent said table and said fabric suporting roll, a web 01' papertraveling over said table and pressure roll, a let-off roll forproviding a continuously fresh supply of said paper, and a wind-up rollfor said paper after it has traveled over said table and support, meansto apply a film of color to the surface of said paper, means to form adesign in said color film on said paper by modifying the surface of saidfilm while the paper is traveling over the table, and means to causesaid pressure roll to press said paper in running contact against thefabric on its supporting roll whereby the color design will be offsetfrom said paper onto said fabric.

GEORGE E. SENSENEY.

